Department of Physics & Astronomy | College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences

Neutron Star Merger

Welcome to the Department of Physics and Astronomy

Research Areas

Research Areas

World leaders in physics & astronomy

Dr. Jing Shi (c) UCR

Multidisciplinary Research

Expertise across disciplines

Nobel Laureate Dr. Barry Barish

Distinguished Faculty

Including Nobel laureate Barry Barrish

UCR PA Diversity

Equity

Committed to diversity and inclusion in science

NGC 2014 and NGC 2020 (c) NASA

Videos

Recordings of recent colloquia, currently held over Zoom

Virtual telescope viewing, moon (YouTube)

Community Outreach

Including Cosmic Thursdays (now via YouTube)

W.M. Keck twin telescopes on Maunakea, Hawai'i (c) Laurie Hatch)

Major in Physics

We are leaders in several subfields of physics & astronomy. We infuse that leadership into education and service. Our research foci include the origin and structure of the universe, the microscopic and macroscopic description of condensed matter and biological systems, and the physics of the environment.

Chair's Welcome

Undergrad Program

Graduate Program

Outreach

October 30, 2024

Frontiers of Cosmology Lecture

WAS THERE A BIG BANG? This event is free and open to the public. The local community, and middle and high school students are strongly encouraged to attend.

Ken Barish

October 30, 2024

Physicist elected chair of international nuclear physics experiment’s council

Kenneth Barish, a professor of physics and astronomy at UC Riverside, has been elected the chair of the STAR Council for a two-year term beginning March 2025. The STAR Experiment is run at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, or RHIC...

October 23, 2024

Cal-State University San Bernardino Visit Day

California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) physics students and faculty visited the UCR Department of Physics and Astronomy for tours of the condensed matter experimental labs at UCR for the second year in a row. UCR Physics faculty and graduate...

Ken Barish

October 02, 2024

DOE renewal grant funds student research

Kenneth Barish, a professor of physics and astronomy, has received a three-year renewal grant of more than $1 million from the Department of Energy, or DOE, to support the activities of the Nucleon Spin Physics Group at UC Riverside. The...

Astronomy square

Atomic square

Atomic, Molecular, and Optical

Particle Theory

Graphene square

Condensed Matter Experiment

Graphene

Condensed Matter Theory

Large Hadron Collider

High-Energy Experiment

Electron-Ion Collider square

Heavy Ion & Spin Physics

Optics square

Physics 2000, courtesy of Ming-Feng Ho

Physics Education Research

Gravitational Waves

Experimental Gravity & Cosmology

Black Holes and the Universe

SHINES is a new Energy Frontier Research Center

Living Histories: Tom Kuhlman